The Effect of Contributory Negligence on Damage Awards: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Abstract
This article analyses the effect of the fault of the injured party on damage awards. There is still much debate on some of the factors that affect the estimation of compensation particularly those related to the injured party including the fault of the injured party. In this article the author undertook comparative analysis on the rules of contributory negligence by comparing the laws of Iraq, the UK and the USA. The comparative analysis revealed that the way of dealing with this issue has changed from the rule ‘all or nothing’ to the apportionment rule in both laws of the UK and the USA, although the way of dealing with the apportionment rule in the USA (in some states) is somehow different from that of the UK. However, in Iraq the rule ‘all or nothing’ is still operative.